Alfie Lamb: Boy 'deliberately' crushed by car seat had internal bleeding similar to crash victim, court hears

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A toddler crushed by a car seat had internal bleeding similar those of a victim in a car crash, a court has heard.

Three-year-old Alfie Lamb died after his mother's boyfriend, Stephen Waterson, allegedly reversed his car seat into him and squashed him.

A paediatric pathologist told the Old Bailey that the toddler’s death was “unnatural” and appeared to have been caused by an “in increase in pressure” to the body.

The boy had been in the rear footwell of Mr Waterson's Audi convertible, at the feet of his mother, Adrian Hoare.

The Old Bailey has heard that Ms Hoare allegedly ignored his cries of "Mummy" and told the boy to "shut up" on the journey back to their home in Croydon, south London, on February 1 last year.

Both Mr Waterson, 25, and Ms Hoare, 23, have denied manslaughter.

Alfie was taken out of the car "unresponsive” after the pair arrived home after a shopping trip to Sutton. The three-year-old was confirmed dead on February 4 after three days in intensive care.

There were four adults and two youngsters in the car but no child seats in use on the day of the tragedy, jurors have heard.

Dr Andreas Marnerides, who carried out a joint post mortem examination on Alfie's body at St Thomas's Hospital in London, told jurors that Alfie had been a "healthy boy".

He said: "In this case we had no positive findings of a natural explanation of a death and we had positive findings it was unnatural, it was trauma related."

There were a lot of external petechial haemorrhages - tiny red spots caused by ruptured veins - on Alfie's head and body, as well as inside his chest cavity, the court heard.

Dr Marnerides ruled out a natural explanation, saying there was "positive evidence there had been injury that would have resulted in increase in pressure in the body, the abdomen and chest.”

Evidence of internal bleeding was explained by impact to the right side of the body, he said.

Jurors were told that such an impact or compression injuries were like those seen in car crashes.

Fat globules in the lungs also indicated a traumatic injury, he said.

The cause of death was given as ischemic brain injury caused by deprivation of blood or oxygen and compression asphyxia, jurors were told.

The court had previously heard Waterson deliberately crushed the child because he wanted to "stretch his legs out".

The trial continues.

Additional reporting by PA